The present invention relates broadly to ranging and detection systems and more particularly to a dual mode, vehicle detection and collision avoidance apparatus characterized by use of a single active or passive acoustic ranging device mounted for azimuth directional movement relative the vehicle to automatically detect the presence and direction of objects in the vicinity of the vehicle.
As is well known, it is oftentimes necessary for a driver of a vehicle to observe the immediate area in the vicinity of his vehicle to effectuate a particular driving manuever. For instance, when a driver of a vehicle is traveling on a roadway, it is routinely necessary for the driver to change lanes to avoid vehicles traveling at differing speeds or to enter or exit the highway. Heretofore, it has been customary practice by drivers to attempt to view the area in the vicinity of the vehicle by way of one or more mirrors mounted on the interior or exterior of the vehicle or, alternatively for drivers to turn their heads to visually observe a particular area. As will be recognized, the various interior and exterior mounted mirrors of the vehicle typically yield a selective area (blindspot) in the vicinity of the vehicle which cannot be properly observed, thereby rendering a driving manuever dangerous while the turning of the driver's head to visually observe the desired area requires the driver to be momentarily inattentive to the vicinity in front of the vehicle. Thus, these two alternatives for observing the selected areas in the vicinity of the vehicle prior to making a driving maneuver have proven less than ideal and usually have posed a significant safety hazard to the driver of the vehicle or adjacent vehicles on the roadway.
Although the above-referenced problems have been recognized to a limited extend in the prior art, the solutions to date have typically comprised vehicle warning systems utilizing multiple ultrasonic transmitters and receivers mounted on the vehicle such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,152--Duncan and U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,397--Syndle. The use of such multiple transmitter receiver transducers necessarily increases the cost of the vehicle warning system making the same economically unfeasible for the majority of the purchasing public. In addition, the majority of such prior art vehicle warning devices have either failed to provide suitable visual and/or audible signals to the driver of the vehicle to indicate the distance and direction of the detected object from the vehicle or have been incapable of detecting the presence of objects on the side of the driver's vehicle.
Thus, there exists a substantial need in the art for a relatively economical vehicle detection and collision avoidance apparatus which may be utilized to detect the presence and direction of objects located both on the left, center and right sides of the vehicle and provide both a visual as well as audible alarm to make the driver of the vehicle aware of the presence of such detected objects.